REPORT ON HEALTH SCREENING AT NZULEZU IN THE WESTERN REGION ON JULY 2ND, 2017
Introduction
The inhabitants of Nzulezu – a fishing and farming community in the Western Region, were put through a health education and screening program on July 2, 2017 at about 11:32am. The screening was to aid the inhabitants realize their health status with regards to Malaria, Blood Sugar, Typhoid, BP and Bilharzia.
Goal
The goals of the screening were to help the inhabitants know their health status which
will translate into an improved standard of living. This as a result will help the community
and the nation at large most especially the tourism sector of the economy.
Objectives
The screening held seeks to achieve the following:
Enlighten the individuals on the need for a healthy living.
Understanding the need to keep their surroundings clean.
The various ways by which they can avoid contracting diseases such as Bilharzia, Typhoid, BP, Diabetes and Malaria.
How the inhabitants can handle minor health issues with the use of First Aids and natural remedies.
Participants
450 people were screened out of which 158 were female and 183 were male. The rest constituted 109 children. Though the number was 513 the number that actually showed up for the screening was 450. We had 126 cases of Malaria, 80 cases of Typhoid were also recorded, 120 had abnormal Blood Pressure and no cases of bilharzia and diabetes were recorded. Malaria and Typhoid treatment medication were giving out to those who tested positive.
Those with High Blood Pressure cases were advised and asked to see a Doctor againin the nearest hospital.
Volunteers
The facilitators for the health screening were Kontor, Dr. Dwomoh, Saka, Obed, Ebenezer, Frank, Gyamera, Maxwell, Oduro, Stanley, Yaw, Eric, Cynthia, Anita,
Candida, Patience, Bernard, David, James, Dominic, Isaac, Samuel, Ibrahim, Moro and Abieku.
A few of these volunteers are professional health worker and the rest are in other fields of operation.
Participants Expectation
The inhabitants’ expectations at the end of the health screening are;
To acquire knowledge about how to address minor health issues
To learn new ideas on how to keep their environs clean to avoid diseases
To learn about healthy living.
Methodology Used
The following Methodologies were used during the screening process;
Presentation
Discussions and Illustrations
Questions and answers
Evaluation
The lessons learnt by the people of Nzulezu at the end of the health training/screening are as follows;
How to handle their environs to prevent themselves from Malaria, Typhoid, BP , Bilharzia and other health related issues
How to manage minor health issues at home before receiving medical attention at the nearest health facility.
How to cultivate the habit of a healthy living.
The impact of healthy living on their future lives.
Recommendation
A health post needs to be built for the dwellers to handle minor cases and to closely monitor the blood pressure of the aged to avoid sudden death or stroke.
A clean up exercise needs to be organized periodically to keep the river clean. More of such trainings/screening should be organized for the dwellers. This will help
them to remain committed to a healthy living. It was a wonderful moment we had with the people, in as much as they got educated we
got educated too, we learnt how they use traditional means to solve most of their health problems. We also learnt how they have been able to survive on the river for all this years.
Our team would like to say a big thank you to the chief and elders of Nzulezu for welcoming us into their village. And a big thank you to our Board sponsors and all the
volunteers who made this project a success.
